New Book
From Negative to Prompt
A personal essay on photography, authorship and image-making in the age of AI.
Photography didn’t change overnight.
It drifted. Quietly. From darkrooms to hard drives. From albums to feeds. From moments to outputs.
From Negative to Prompt is a personal, sharp and often reflective journey through that shift. From film and chemicals to digital workflows, smartphones, algorithms and artificial image generation.
Marc Collins doesn’t explain how to make “better images”.
He explores what happens to photography when images become effortless, abundant and increasingly automated — and what gets lost along the way.
This is not a technical manual.
It’s not a nostalgia trip either.
It’s a book about attention, decision-making, authorship and the value of slowing down in a world that keeps accelerating.
About why the darkroom taught discipline.
Why digital taught speed.
And why neither teaches taste.
For photographers, filmmakers and creatives who care less about tools — and more about seeing.
Available in two editions:
English edition
→ From Negative to Prompt – Between Film and AI
German edition
→ Vom Negativ zum Prompt